Marketing mobile influenza vaccine clinics on a college campus

Influenza vaccination rates fall below public health targets. Compared with the general population, vaccination rates on college campuses are even lower. Since 2013, the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy and University Health Center (UHC) Pharmacy have collaborated to increase access to influenza vaccines by holding clinics at locations across campus. In an effort to increase awareness, this partnership expanded to include the UHC Marketing Department. Through this initiative, a coordinated marketing campaign was implemented to promote immunization opportunities. To examine the impact of a collaborative, multimodal marketing campaign on individuals receiving the influenza vaccine at mobile clinics on a college campus and explore reasons why recipients chose to get vaccinated. A 7-item survey was developed and administered at mobile influenza vaccine clinics across campus during the fall of 2018. The survey asked participants for basic demographics, the marketing strategies that they encountered, the strategy had the most impact on their decision to get vaccinated at the clinic, and their motivation for receiving the vaccine. The survey was administered at 11 campus-based clinics, with a 71% response rate. A total of 59% respondents were students, and 41% were faculty or staff. The most common marketing strategies recognized by participants were e-mail (45%), friend or colleague (35%), paper/digital flyers (24%), UHC website (9%), and mobile clinic signage (7%). The most common motivating factors for getting vaccinated were lowering the risk of getting sick (87%), protecting others (64%), and being encouraged by a relative or friend (34%). The number of people vaccinated after the marketing campaign was 1150, a 69% increase compared with the previous year. The marketing strategies described in this paper resulted in an increase in the number of vaccine recipients at campus-based mobile clinics. Implementing a multimodal, coordinated marketing campaign can help universities improve their vaccination efforts.